Wildlife in Lebanon - Types of Lebanese Animals

Great Crested Newt

Common Name: Great Crested Newt Scientific Name: Triturus cristatus Average Life Span In The Wild: Up to 25 years Weight: 0.22 to 0.37 ounces Size relative to a teacup: IUCN Red List Status:? Least concern

Least Concern Extinct

Current Population Trend: Decreasing

The great crested newt lives only in Europe. Females, which are larger than males, can reach 7 inches in length, making these stout-bodied amphibians the continent's largest newts.

Etymology

The great crested newt is also known as the warty newt because it has skin that is covered in small bumps. The skin contains glands that secrete a milky, acrid-smelling substance to dissuade predators. Its other common name derives from the dramatic, jagged crest that males develop along their backs during the spring breeding season.

Coloring

These newts are generally dark colored on top and orange or yellow with black spots underneath. They also have white speckles on their flanks and a large, vertically flattened tail that bears a white streak down the side.

Behavior

Great crested newts are nocturnal and are voracious eaters, feeding on worms, slugs, and insects on land, and tadpoles and mollusks in water. They are more terrestrial than most newts, but must remain near bodies of fresh water to keep their skin moist.

These newts spend a significant portion of their lives in hibernation, usually from around October to March of each year. On a rainy night in March, they awaken and trek back to the pond where they hatched to mate.

Reproduction

Females lay from 200 to 300 eggs, but only about half develop into tadpoles. Tadpoles emerge from their eggs in about 21 days and feed on small insects like water fleas and tiny worms. Warty newts are extremely long-lived, with some exceeding 16 years of age. Like all newts, they can regrow body parts if necessary, but that ability diminishes as they age.

Conservation

Some great crested newt populations are in decline. They and their habitats are protected under European law.

Campaigners Claim To Find Great Crested Newt On Controversial Opencast Site

PROTESTORS who have set up a camp to prevent the creation of an opencast coalmine claim they have found a great crested newt on the site.

Environmental activists at the Pont Valley Protection Camp, near Leadgate, Consett, in County Durham, said the discovery of the protected species was made on Tuesday.

Banks Group, which is due to start work on the Bradley site, has said newt surveys were undertaken by a licensed ecologist last summer and no newts were found.

But campaigners claim the firm will not show them the report to back this up, and argue the firm will now need a licence from Natural England before starting work.

Camp member Anne Harris said: "The find clearly shows that there is an endangered species whose habitat would be destroyed and animals would be killed if an opencast were to happen here.

"A current and full newt survey and updated license are required before any more work can go ahead, or Banks Group will be committing a wildlife crime.

"The Pont Valley Protection Camp vows that it will stop the destruction of the newt pond and surrounding area."

The application to opencast at the Bradley site was applied for by UK Coal, a now defunct mining company, before it was taken over by the Banks Group.

Ms Harris said UK Coal carried out newt surveys in 2007, 2011 and 2014, all of which found great crested and smooth newts, and built four new ponds just off the site as they had expected to relocate them.

She said: "For two months we have been asking to see the elusive survey from Banks as we had concerns about the accuracy of its findings.

"There has been evidence of great crested newts on this site for at least the last thirty years.

"Capturing a great crested newt shows we have good reason to not trust Banks."

The protestors are hoping to prevent Banks Group from starting work on the land before planning permission runs out on the June 3.

The company's community relations manager, Lewis Stokes, said: "Extensive surveys of the natural environment are carried out by independent ecologists as part of the development of all Banks Group sites, so that an accurate picture of any resident species and habitats can be formed and factored into our site development, management and restoration plans.

"In the case of the Bradley site, a range of ecological surveys have been carried out over a number of years across all different aspects of the local environment.

"These included extensive surveys of all ponds on the site over 2017, using Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling and terrestrial refuge assessment, which found no evidence of any great crested newts.

"The operations planned at the Bradley site have thoroughly considered all environmental matters including ongoing checking surveys by independent ecologists.

"This project will create multiple new habitats for newts and other species and enhancements to the footpath network providing improved interaction with the natural environment and delivering benefits for both wildlife and people living in local communities many decades into the future."

Newts Cause Delays

GREAT crested newts have caused a £25,000 headache for Cleveland planners.

Work on a new recycling centre at Carlin How, near Saltburn, has been postponed while a survey on a protected newt colony is carried out.

It has so far been impossible for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to count the newts.

Experts will have to wait until the newts emerge from hibernation next month.

Councillors had earmarked more than £90,000 to build a new recycling centre at Carlin How Farm.

English Nature objected when it emerged that great crested newts were living on the site.

Durham Wild Life Services Ltd has been commissioned to look at protecting the newts.

The council had to apply for a great crested newt licence and a newt fence and tunnel, costing £7,000, has been designed. Unless the Government allows some building to start before the newt study, the council will lose 20 per cent of a £90,000 Government grant.

The money was approved on the understanding that work would begin by March 31. Work could now be delayed until August.

The council's executive committee will discuss the issue at at meeting at Eston Town Hall on Tuesday, March 4.

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